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www.marinelink.com 61 nologies such as dynamically controlled mooring and proactive fender systems will be used to guarantee safe operations and a suffi cient wide operating window for handling the cargo.

For bulk, the degrees of freedom are usually much larger than for containers, which is why these dynamic systems are being used on an increasing number of container terminals all over the world, especially in existing ports with heavy swell issues.

For containers, the offshore hub would consist of a smart terminal arrangement of say two or three berths for the main carriers and four or fi ve for barges to nearby ports and coastal shipping. The facilities can be extended in almost any combination with dry bulk, wet bulk and containers, depending on zoning and safety requirements.

This concept is not entirely new.

Bechtel has already built the deep water

Khalifa Port and Khalifa Industrial Zone in Abu Dhabi, one of the world’s largest combined port and industrial zone devel- opments. However, Khalifa Port is con- nected to the mainland by a causeway and bridge and the offshore hub proposal is essentially an island. There are simi- larities in terms of port and terminal op- erations, as well as scale. The offshore hub would be able to handle up to 4 mil- lion TEU per year.

Conclusion

The offshore hub represents a viable solution to the future needs of ports, which need to adapt to the ever-increas- ing sizes of vessels, particularly in the

U.S. and Africa. Offering the oppor- tunity to save costs, minimize environ- mental impact and increase capacity, this concept could provide the answer where traditional ports cannot. Its prospects look promising. In Africa, the multi-user offshore port concept provides a strate- gic solution by maximizing the benefi ts of infrastructure corridors. While in the

U.S., Bechtel is currently in discussions with various government agencies about the development of an offshore port on the East Coast.

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The Author

Marco Pluijm is responsible for the Bechtel’s

Port and Marine sector, which includes busi- ness and project development, worldwide, technology development, as well as inno- vation in the maritime sector. He has more than 35 years’ experience in planning and building ports across the globe. As part of the innovation cluster, he is currently lead- ing a joint-industry project (JIP) into the safer mooring of large cargo ships in open water, transhipment, along the coast of West Af- rica. And recently led the highly-acclaimed

ROPES JIP research project for the assess- ment of the quantitative effects of passing ships on moored ships, which resulted in new international guidelines for the design of safer ports. Mr. Pluijm previously worked for a port authority, a dredging company, an international port consultancy and the Min- istry of Transport in the Netherlands. He has an MSc Civil Engineering in port planning and design from Delft University of Technol- ogy, the Netherlands.

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